A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party on Thursday alleged that operatives of the Ebubeagu Security Outfit abducted him in Ebonyi State on Wednesday.
Onyike, who is a former Commissioner for Information in the state and Deputy National President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, said he was seized while attempting to purchase drugs at Octovia Pharmacy on Water Works Road, Abakaliki.
The spokesperson for the PDP governorship candidate in the 2023 general election in Ebonyi State, Dr Ifeanyi Odii, alleged that he passed through dehumanising acts in the hands of the operatives of the security unit.
While in the pharmaceutical store, two hefty armed men suspected to be Ebebeagu members walked in there, bundled him into their Sienna bus, and whisked him away.
Narrating his ordeal, he said, “I went to buy medicine at the popular Octovia Pharmacy at about 8:25 pm. After buying the drugs, I saw two armed Ebubeagu men enter the pharmacy. They came straight to me. One of them dragged me into their vehicle (a red-coloured Toyota Sienna).
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“They fired gunshots into the air to scar people. They drove me to the old Government House and subjected me to torture. I was canned and beaten with wood. They threatened to bury me alive, while one of them threatened to shoot at my leg.”
The former National Vice President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, stated, “After about one hour of intensive torture, their commander told me to stand up and wear my dresses. He said it was a case of mistaken identity. They returned some of my items seized by them, such as my car key, phone, drugs and ATM. I was then told to go.”
Reacting, the Ebebuagu Commander in the state, Friday Nnanna, said Onyike’s arrest was mistakenly done as he was arrested in the location where a suspect was being trailed.
According to him, “Immediately after his name, place of origin and personality was ascertained, he was released.
“The place they said Abia was caught was where a criminal element we have been looking usually stay. Oga, we have satellite everywhere. That’s where the suspect usually come to collect arms and ammunition and rifles kept for him. He normally comes from outside the State.
“You can ask the victim what we did immediately he was asked his name, and where he came from; we ordered them to leave him immediately. People have been putting surveillance where he was arrested.”